NCAA | May 14, 2018

Women’s basketball rules committee examining 3-point line

The NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee is exploring opportunities for teams to experiment using the international 3-point line in exhibition games before the start of the 2018-19 season.

The 3-point line is 22 feet, 1¾ inches in the Olympics and International Basketball Federation world championship events. The 3-point arc in NCAA women’s basketball is now 20 feet, 9 inches. The committee would like for schools to provide feedback on whether the adjustment to the line enhances the game.

“The game is developing, and we are always interested in what that would do for spacing and flow of the game,” said Brad Duckworth, chair of the rules committee and director of athletics at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. “We believe that it will not diminish 3-point field goal attempts and that our women are capable of adjusting to that distance.”

In the 2017-18 Division I season, teams attempted an average of 18.77 3-point field goals, making six shots behind the arc per game. Division I teams made 32 percent of their shots last year.

The committee is holding open the option of experimenting with the 3-point line in other events as well.

Arm Padding

Based on a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, the Women’s Basketball Rules Committee proposed permitting padded elbow, hand, finger, wrist or forearm guards, casts or braces, even when these items are made with a nonpliable material. These items must be covered on all exterior sides and edges with not less than half-inch thickness of a slow-rebounding foam.

This rule change must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which will discuss the proposal June 12.